I've been wanting to make a zipper pouch for awhile now. I kept putting it off because 1.) I'm not terribly fond of sewing zippers and 2.) I really didn't want it to have slanted corners at the zipper ends, I think that looks unprofessional.
Special thanks to Solsisters for providing the great scraps!! I'm in this scrappy mood lately. Sure I have TONS of fabric, but I'm obsessed with using scraps. Yesterday I bought FOUR trashbags of fabric (alot of it is scraps) for $15 on craigslist...score. The inside fabric came from that pile.
This was just a quickie figuring out a new design. Here's the last one I made and the story behind it: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=286230.0 Fleece on the inside for padding with vinyl pockets on both sides to hold games. This also fits a digital camera nicely and the pockets could be used for memory cards instead.
So I got a bunch of awesome scraps on Etsy. I don't have much in the way of "designer" fabrics, so this was a fun way to use some. My inspiration came from http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=243955.0 I liked the randomness of the placement and the very "handmade" look. If I do this again I will definitely use wonder-under on the scraps and fuse them to a sheet of non-fusible interfacing or sturdy fabric eliminating the need for the water-soluble sheet.
The scrap part of the purse will continue to fray at the edges which I think gives it nice character. You can't tell very well from the pictures, but the stitching over the scraps is kind of wavy. I used a nice woven for the handles/band and an orangish for the pocket. Anyway, here it is. What do you think?
(sorry the pictures aren't great, I was waiting for some nice natural light and didn't get any)
Would I make a rolled handle/strap the same way I make a regular strap and just fold and sew the edges together for the rolled part? or is something stuffed inside? I like the look of them, but it seems like just folding them in half would look kind of shoddy because they would end up creasing. Any advice or tute links would be greatly appreciated!!
ARGH! I've looked at so many things lately I can't keep track. I'm making a bag with a rounded bottom and I know I've seen a pattern with two darts on each corner of the bottom. I just need it for reference, but I'd really like to see the location of the darts. I'm about to just start chopping on some muslin until I get the look I want.
So, my daughter got a Nintendo DS for Christmas. A few days later we were out shopping and she begged me to buy a $20 case for it. I really wanted to make her one, but since I had returned another item for $20 I caved. That very night she left it on the back porch, when I left the dogs out in the morning they decided it was a fun new toy. They tore the handle off and made a big mess of it, but somehow the DS and games survived. (Good thing)
Anyway, I got to make her one like I originally wanted to. I borrowed the idea for the game holders from here. http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=252889.0 (thanks Jilden) The yellow fabric and zipper came from a terry robe that was my grandmothers. I didn't have any other yellow that I liked. Oh and I didn't applique the owl it was already on the fabric. shhhhh.
the front
the back
the back pouch opened with all of the cool little pockets to hold games
inside with room for DS and charger and perhaps a few more small items
I'm at a crossroads. I was laid off 6 months ago from my job of 14 years. Since then I've revived my love of sewing and crafting. So now I need to produce an income, do I go for it and actually sell my stuff? Is it possible to be that successful at it? Mostly I'd stick to purses and bags. I set up an etsy shop but only ever listed one item, after a week or so I just decided to use it for myself. LOL. I can get a part-time job and focus on the sewing too. That feels like the most appealing option to me at this point.
So if you had to do it again would you start a craft business? Does your passion become too much of a chore after awhile? And how do you know if you are "good enough" to make money with your crafts? I would certainly chose doing what I love over making a ton of money anyday.
I really liked this pattern so I decided to try it even though my luck with patterns isn't very good. I did adjust the sleeve length, I thought I'd get more use out of longer sleeves. It's Simplicity #2808 and I'd say it was a good true to size, easy to follow pattern. The only difficult part was marking for the tucks, I ended up using tape and sewed along the tape line since it's not easy to mark fleece. If I make another one (and I think I will) I might make the arm holes just a smidge bigger. It's made out of fleece but the charcoal gray color totally looks like wool.
YAY!!! This is my last purse/bag Christmas present to make. Now all I have to finish is a pair of sleep pants and a tissue holder. It looks like vinyl, but it's a textured fabric and the top band and strap are metallic light blue vinyl (?) from the Walmart clearance trim section. This was my first attempt at reverse applique, I think it turned out pretty good. I'm kicking myself for forgetting the magnetic snap, I might sew in a piece of velcro, but I really hate velcro. I'm not ripping seams out that's for sure.
close up of monogram
inside w/ pen/cell phone pockets (you can see the true color of the blues better in this pic)
I just finished this for my soon to be mother-in-law. (only 6 more days!!) It's a lunch tote, I chose not to do the fusible vinyl on the inside but it does have insul-brite inside. The inspiration is from this tute http://kayray.org/crafts/red_tutorial/ I liked the shape, but changed the size, handles, and construction a bit. I just LOVE this fabric, finally a change from the browns and neutrals I've been using. (Here's the lunch tote I made the other day http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=282783.0 )
Show Topics
